Eastern Military Zone patrol foils drug smuggling attempt

AMMAN — Eastern Military Zone personnel thwarted an attempt to infiltrate and smuggle "large" quantities of narcotics coming from Syrian territory on Saturday at dawn. An official military source at Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF) said that border guard patrols, in coordination with security agencies, spotted an armed group of smugglers illegally crossing into Jordan from the Syrian border, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Quick response patrols rushed to the site and applied the rules of engagement, injuring a smuggler and forcing the others to retreat, the source said. After an intensive search of the area, 564 palm-sized sheets of hashish and 20,000 Captagon pills were seized, in addition to a Kalashnikov rifle and ammunition, all of which were handed over to the relevant authorities. The source stressed that the JAF will continue to deal with any threat to Jordan's borders "firmly", and will foil any endeavors intended to undermine and destabilise the Kingdom's security and terrorise its citizens.